Woke The Dragon
by AllShadesOfDramatic
Summary: Jessica reflects on her past with Charles Van Dyke, based on her comment in "Know When To Fold 'Em".
It was time, she thought. Time to put the man in his place, to show him where he belongs. In her sky high Louboutins, she strode over to where Charles Van Dyke was waiting.

"Charles," she said with a fake smile, as she found him looking at the sign that said Pearson Specter. "However long you look at it, your name isn't coming back," she said looking at the sign herself. Van Dyke looked at her and smirked, but got back in the elevator. "It's never the full story with you, Jessica," he said as the doors closed.

Sighing, she walked back to her office for a day of being annoyed by Harvey and Louis and all the partners who'd come to her for problems as they did on any other day. It wasn't that she didn't like to do her job, it was quite the opposite. But today, she'd been jolted into the past, and it wasn't a very pleasant journey all the time.

xxxx

"You wanted to see me?" she asked as she knocked on the door to Hardman's office. "Yes, I wanted you to look through these briefs for the Porter case for me," came an exasperated tone from the office. As she looked in, Daniel Hardman's office was completely covered in files and paper. He obviously was doing a large project. She took the files she was meant to do and turned on her heel to go, when she heard a muffled curse from behind her.

"Is there anything else I can do?" She asked. "Oh yes please, if you could just wait in here for a minute while I get some sheets I left in the copier in the file room. I'm working on a sensitive matter, and I don't want anyone to see it, I'll be back in a moment," he rushed as he got up quickly and went out.

She turned her back to the door, and caught a piece of paper which was about to fall. Her name on the sheet caught her attention, and she quickly scanned through the rest of it. It was a copy of her interview the day she was hired at Gordon Schmidt Van Dyke. But there was an asterisk next to her name. Curiosity piqued, she turned to the end. When she saw what was written, she felt as though her stomach had dropped to her feet. She hadn't been chosen for law review. Not for being second in her class at Harvard.

But, the sheer ignominy of it.

"Diversity?!"

And she realised that second what she'd always be to Charles Van Dyke.

A black woman.

She vowed to herself that day to work twice as hard as everyone, to prove to the world that she was as capable, if not more than all of them. She vowed to show Charles Van Dyke his lowly place in the world one day, because there would come a day, and she was sure of it, when she would overthrow Van Dyke, and take control of the firm.

"Thank you, Jessica, I knew I could count on you," said Hardman as he puffed from the exertion of the trip to the file room. She nodded and left to go to her own office. It wasn't very big, and it certainly wasn't a corner office ("yet," said her mind), but it was still the biggest among al the associates. So from that day onwards, she threw herself into her work, even more than normal.

The sun had set over Manhattan that night, but it shone on in the offices of Gordon Schmidt Van Dyke, as a confident, intelligent woman set out to make history.

She finished all her assigned cases, and all her paperwork. She did more than she was required to do every hour of every day, and soon her billables were better than any senior partner in the firm, even thought she was still an associate. She knew she was good at her job, it was time to be extraordinary. She had to work doubly as hard as anyone else, had to prove herself twice over, and she still made it through.

Because the day she saw she'd been selected for diversity, a fire had been lit under her. A fire, a desire, a need to do better, be better, than everybody else.

And that's what she did.

Because that's who she was.

Strong.

Stoic.

Unruffled.

xxxxx

Footsteps behind her alerted her to someone's presence. She turned around to see Harvey with a glass of his Macallan 20-pretentious. "I'm going to court in a minute, I hope Louis will pull through today, why are you looking at me like that?" She asked.

Harvey was looking at her with a vaguely concerned expression, he knew something was the matter. She'd tell him later, she decided. After all, he deserved to know. He raised his glass and walked away, a silent gesture to let her know that he was there to talk if she needed it.

She reached court with ten minutes to spare, and Louis wasn't there yet. Even though she was internally panicking, she'd gotten to this position by placing a carefully veiled mask on her face at all times, and that was exactly what she did.

Ding. The elevator opened and Charles Van Dyke walked out, not looking surprised that Jessica was standing there.

"You want to know why I sent that card?"

"Pray tell, Ms Pearson," he said.

"Because when I saw that asterisk next to my name, for diversity, I felt sick to my stomach. And I realised what I'd always be to you. So I have you to thank, because if I hadn't felt sick, and hadn't worked as hard as I did, I wouldn't be here today. So that card was a thank you. And two days later, when I made my move in the night, I finally accomplished what I'd been working towards since the day I found out. Daniel Hardman was a lot of things, but he never treated me any different because of my colour or gender. That day, we pushed you out. Today you're trying to push me out, but you can't. You woke the dragon, Charles. How do you like me now?"

And with that, she turned and strode off into the courtroom, because Louis had arrived during her monologue (nobody dared call it a tirade because Jessica Pearson was nothing if not in complete control of herself).

When she got back to the office, after winning the case and successfully fending of Charles Van Dyke, she went to Harvey's office, the epitome of regal beauty and power in her Manolo Blahnik heels.

He wasn't there, so she went to the window overlooking Manhattan, looking out at the city that had made her who she was.

Dignified.

Extraordinary.

Exemplary.

She was a woman who'd had her heart set on many things in her life.

In high school, it was "I want to do law."

In law school, it was "I want to be a great goddamn lawyer."

When she was an associate, it was "I want my name on this door."

And today, she had all of those things. She had her name on the door, she'd thrown out a partner who'd embezzled money, she'd found her own protégé, she was the head of one of New York's most prestigious law firms, and she was nowhere close to being done.

She'd always had a mask, a facade, and she'd mastered it years ago, so no one could ever truly scale the walls and look inside. She was calm and dignified at all times, and she was always in control of everything. Her "overbearing nature" as Harvey had so succinctly put it, was a part of her now, she didn't want anymore messes than she could help. And her "holier than thou attitude"... Well that was just for putting Harvey in his place sometimes.

"I could have you thrown out of my office, no one comes in when Donna's not here, you know," smirked Harvey as he entered.

"Call security then," she deadpanned.

"Im assuming you want to talk about something, and most likely it's personal, since otherwise you'd have summoned me to your office as you like doing so often," he surmised, giving her a questioning glance.

She sighed, and rose from her perch on his desk.

"Come upto the roof, I have a story to tell you. And it's better than the Asiago cheese bagel, I assure you," she muttered as she led him upto to the roof.


End file.
